New data shows a rapid rise in awareness and purchase of hard seltzer in Australian on-premise venues.

CGA by NielsenIQ reports that the hard seltzer category presents real potential for drinks suppliers over summer and festive season in Australia, providing they can differentiate their brand and format offering.

CGA’s most recent deep dive into on-premise consumer trends (OPUS) highlights a 67% increase in engagement with the category. In Autumn 2021, 5.3% of Australian consumers were drinking hard seltzers when visiting the on premise, and this has grown to 8.9% by Spring 2022. OPUS shows that not only trial is evident, but also repeat purchase, with 42% of Australian hard seltzer drinkers stating that they are now drinking the category more frequently versus a year ago.  

Interestingly, a number of different serve formats have already hit the Australian on premise, something that took a lot longer in the US as the category was initially building. The latest research shows that 38% of Australian hard seltzer drinkers have already tried it on draught, with another 50% saying that they would consider the category in this format.  

According to CGA, a desire for health and wellness seems to be a big influence on purchase, as hard seltzers are the second most popular category for consumers choosing them when they’re making a ‘healthier’ decision (18%). Since hard seltzers typically have less calories, CGA recommends brands target a growing consumer segment in Australia who are looking for healthier drink options – with 36% of all on-premise visitors saying they are likely to base their drink decision on whether it was low in sugar or fat. 

CGA client solutions director – ANZ James Phillips said: “These latest OPUS insights show that there is a growing degree of consumer interest and engagement with the hard seltzer category in Australia. Inevitably, this leads to competition, so drinks suppliers really need to understand how to position their specific hard seltzer offering, and how sales-critical consumer segments respond to their brands in different serve formats. Get this right, and they will be able to offer their customers high quality advice and can better present an opportunity for them to list the right assortment, in the optimal range of formats, of this growing category.” 

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